Moana Kamali'I The Ocean's Children
by Dreamwind1
Summary: SLASH The one where Danno is really a mermaid in disguise…wait did I say mermaid. I meant merman. Or...Merman Danno goes to Hawaii.
1. Prologue

**Moana Kamali'I (The Ocean's Children)****  
><strong>**Author:** Dreamwind  
><strong>Rating:<strong> R (for now)  
><strong>Status:<strong> WIP  
><strong>Relationship:<strong> Steve McGarret/Danny "Danno" Williams  
><strong>Disclaimer:<strong> I do not own any version of the Hawaii Five-O (2010) series. I make no profit from this work of fiction.  
><strong>Tropes:<strong> AU-Mermaids, AU-High School  
><strong>Warnings:<strong> Violence, Angst, M/M, Season 1 spoilers**  
>Summery: <strong>The one where Danno is really a mermaid in disguise…wait did I say mermaid. I meant mer_man_. Or…Merman Danno goes to Hawaii.

**Prologue**

At thirteen the world felt as if it was full of endless opportunities just waiting for you to reach out and grab them. So much promise and wonder at what was waiting ahead, what he could have if only he could grab it. It was like an expensive silk tapestry in a museum, safely hidden behind the glass. He felt as if his own age was that glass denying him the opportunity to reach out and touch the tapestry, to touch his own future. He hated that. That feeling as if you were being limited in who and what you could be. Maybe that was why when Mirabelle had asked him to sneak out after dark and go down to the beach he had agreed rather than saying 'no' and convincing her to go back home.

He had known Mirabelle for as long as he could remember. Like his own family hers rented a tiny bungalow for a month down at the Shore every summer. It felt like an escape when he was little. A chance to play in the sun and the water that he couldn't see during the rest of the year, when his world was nothing more than steel and concrete buildings and sharp, loud noises. A chance to make friends with people who didn't go to school with him and know that he was Frank Williams' son. Here he could be Danny of the limitless opportunities.

So they had climbed out of his window, down the trellis and snuck off into the night. About a block away from the rental house they finally found an empty street. Danny had smiled at Mirabelle and accepted her hand as she reached for his. She was younger a year older than him but still one of the few girls he knew who was shorter than him. It made him feel good to be the tall one for once. Like he was strong enough to protect her from all the dangers their parents kept warning them about. He hadn't really taken much notice of her backpack or the fact that she was dressed up in a lovely sundress. He was far too excited about being daring enough to sneak out under his parents watch. They had walked hand in hand down to a deserted section of the beach, bypassing several groups of teenagers before settling in.

They had talk for a bit about inconsequential things before Mirabella had opened her backpack and revealed the large bottle of scotch she had brought with her. Danny had been startled at first because he had never really given alcohol much thought and now being here with a bottle of it at hand, he found it hard not to wonder. So when she opened it and handed it to him he only paused briefly before putting it to his lips and talking a deep drink. He had gagged, letting out a wheezing gasp as the burning liquid slid down his throat. He wasn't at all sure that he liked it. Scowling at the bottle he had handed it back to her and watched as she took several long drinks. He was impressed a bit that she seemed to have no problem with the alcohol and, feeling his manhood threatened, had taken the bottle back to drink some more.

It didn't take long for them to become drunk.

He was only grateful that it was dark out and that no one noticed the two of them become drunk on the scotch she had stolen from her Father's liquor cabinet. It also turned out to be handy for other reasons. Because of that she didn't remember that they had both decided to try their hand at skinny-dipping. They had struggled in their drunkenness to get out of their cloths and both had fallen ass overhead into the sand on more than one occasion. He had giggled as she blushed tomato red as he shucked off his pants. He was sure she had never seen a naked boy before and he had certainly never seen a naked girl before. He almost had once when he found his Father's old Playboy's under the bed, while he was searching out Christmas presents, but his Mother had found him and tugged him out of the room by his ear. So like Mirabella he knew he was blushing, but it was more from embarrassment than any kind of arousal. He knew there was something wrong with that. The health teacher at school had gone over puberty and sex with the class for over a week, so he knew he was supposed to feel something when looking at Mirabella.

To hide the knot of confusion that was forming in his belly, Danny had grabbed her hand and pulled her up onto her feet. With a devious grin he called out a dare to her to be the first into the water. Shrieking a challenge she charged down to the water alongside him. Both of them had cried out in drunken surprise at the first touch of the cold water lapping at their feet. Not to be outdone, Danny had thrown her another challenging look and charged further into the water, tripping over his own feet. Danny opened his mouth in surprise, swallowing a mouthful of saltwater as he was pulled under by a wave. For an eternity it was impossible to tell which direction was up and Danny found himself desperately trying to find his was back to the surface as the air in his lungs ran out. Swallowing more water Danny froze as sharp needle like tingling surged up from the soles of his feet and up over his ribs. Suddenly the dark blackness of the water had depth and color, it's he could see light filtering down from above him. Realizing he had been swimming to the bottom instead of to the surface Danny spun around, vaguely aware that there was something different about him. He rushed upwards, fear fueling him as his lower body propelled him up out of the depths. The image of his own body was burned onto the back of his eyelids. The iridescent ice blue of the tail that had been his legs and gills along his ribs was perhaps more startling than nearly drowning.

Mirabelle was not far from him, her nude body dripping wet as if she had been pulled under as well. Danny hardly noticed her though. He had been too panicked at the first sight of the webbing between his fingers. While he hovered in the deeper water she tried to swim out to him and in her drunken state nearly drowned as she passed out in the water because of it. Fortunately he had been startled enough by her sinking into the dark water in front of him that he snapped out of the shock of seeing that first change and had dove under after her. It wasn't until they had made it back onto the beach that he had gotten a really good look at the drastic changes that had struck him upon nearly drowning.

His tail was long, nearly a foot longer than his legs were and so very pale colored that the scales practically glowed under the moonlight. At his hips two other fins flopped around useless out of the water. They reminded him a little of the fins on the sides of fish or the ones that whales had. They certainly were sturdier and larger than the fragile looking fins of a fish even if they did more closely resemble a fish's fin than a whale's. At his pelvis were two slits in his flesh, almost looking like knife wounds but with no pain emanating from them. He hoped that maybe his dick was retracted inside his body like a whales and not just gone, because he had only recently learned about the pleasurable things it could do and he didn't want to lose that. For a while laying there he could almost convince himself that he was drunk too and dreaming all of this. Maybe they had passed out and the skinny-dippy and the turning into a fucking fish-man was all a nightmare produced by too much scotch on a nearly empty stomach?

He stayed there laying in the sand at her side for almost an hour before he started to feel a tingling sensation in the long tail only to find the scales were receding and shifting back into his normal looking legs. At his side his breath stuttered for a moment as the gills sealed shut against his ribs. He could still just make out a think line, almost like a scar that had faded over many long years, where the gills had been. At his pelvis his penis began to push out of the top slit and on his hands the webbing sank back into the skin and vanished. It was suddenly like it really had been a dream and at some point he truly fell asleep only to wake up near dawn. He was still naked and laying on the sand, but Mirabelle had rolled closer at some point and was draped half on top of him. Embarrassed and slightly aroused by the lingering touch of the waves lapping at them, he pushed her off and ran over to where their clothes were, grateful they hadn't been pulled out in the waves.

That was the last time he went in the water.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**New Jersey, Three Years Later**

At the age of sixteen his life turned upside down again. His parents had seen his deformity. It had been a long day of baseball practice and Danny had been exhausted but happy to know that he had made the team, even if he wasn't likely to play as much more than a benchwarmer since he was a Freshman. Upon returning home all he could think of was sinking into a nice hot bath to relax the aching muscles. His being so eager to get in the hot water had caused him to forget to lock the door and of course this had to be one of those days that he flipped a tail. It happened only occasionally when he was in the bath and he was usually very good at remembering to lock the bathroom door so that this very occurrence wouldn't happen. But this one time he had forgotten and his Father had walked in on him.

Danny had had some awkward moments before, having had his Father walk in on him masturbating on three separate occasions. But this was far, far worse than that. The look on his Father's face was one Danny was sure he would never forget. His Father had stood there in the doorway looking at him with wide, startled eyes and Danny had been too shocked to try and hide. Not that he would have been able to hide the changes. His Father, the man he idolized above all others had looked at him as if he had no idea who Danny was. It hurt, but it only got worse when his Father had screamed for Danny's Mom.

Danny's Mom was a petite woman with blond hair already going gray. Beside his Father she looked even smaller, especially when she caught sight on Danny. Her eyes had widened and her hands had shot up to cover her mouth as she let out a startled gasp. Danny had not been prepared to have her run to him, crying as if her world was falling apart. Danny had grabbed her arms to try and keep her from falling into the water with him. She had wrapped her arms around his shoulders and sobbed into the side of his neck chanting "I'm sorry" over and over. Danny was scared to ask her why she was sorry, but his Father certainly wasn't.

Frank Williams was a good man but he had little patience when it came to things that made his wife cry or that deviated too much from his worldview. And his oldest son sprawled in the bath looking like a merman was definitely far outside of what his worldview told him was reality. Hell it was outside of Danny's worldview until it had happened to him. Danny wanted to give his Father the benefit of the doubt as it had take Danny a long time to accept the whole being a merman thing wasn't going to go away just because he wanted it to. But listening to his Father and Mother argue as she explained about why exactly Danny was part fish made that desire shrink.

"How could you," his Father had screamed at her.

"I wanted a baby, Frank!" His Mother had been sobbing even more so as she tried to explain what had happened all those years ago down at the Shore. "We had been trying so hard for so long and the doctors were saying that it wasn't likely that we could ever have one of our own and I just wanted a baby so very badly."

Danny had tried to pull himself out of the tube only to slip back in, water splashing all over the floor as he caught sight of Mattie and the girls hovering in the doorway behind their Father. The girls were watching him with the scary look they had every time they watched a Disney movie or caught sight of a new stuffed animal, but where held back from charging him by the sight of their parents arguing in a way they never had before. He could see them mouthing something, but he didn't read lips enough to know what exactly they were saying. He cringed though because knowing his little sisters it was likely something along the lines of 'pretty pretty fishie!'

"I got a little drunk after you stormed off back to the station and I decided to go down to the Shore to walk along the beach." His Mother whipped at her eyes as she looked up at her husband, begging him to understand. "I stumbled upon him and he was just laying there naked in the sand and I started to think he might be hurt. So I ran over to him and found, well…he was very much alive."

"And what, that made it okay to have sex with a stranger! To break our wedding vows!"

"No! No, it didn't make it right! I was drunk and sad and so lonely because you wouldn't even look at me! He was there and he let me vent out all my pain and he offered me comfort."

Their fighting had gone on for hours until both were hoarse from screaming. Eventually they had realized that Danny and the other children were right there listening. There Father had ordered them out and Danny had found he had to crawl between his parents to get out of the bathroom, his body still too wet to fully change back. His father had glared down at his pale ice blue fins that were starting to gain some more vibrant blue tones along the edges. Danny had looked away, his whole body trying to cruel in on itself under that burning gaze. Danny had never been so hurt as he was then at his Father's callus behavior. For weeks after Danny refused to acknowledge his Father's existence and he barley spoke to his Mother. At school he found himself acting out, getting into fights that he would have avoided before. He was in detention almost everyday now, classes he used to enjoy like English Lit couldn't hold his attention any longer. He stopped turning in his work and hardly ate anything. The only thing he could focus on was practice, running and fighting the punks that thought they could bad mouth him or his siblings. He may or may not have been involved with a group of boys who fought each other in an abandoned house two blocks down or learned how to pick locks and bypass basic household security systems from one of said boys.

If his Father noticed Danny coming home with bruised ribs, black eyes and all manner of other cuts and bruises, he never said anything. His Mother tried to comfort him and had convinced Mattie to help hold Danny down long enough for her to tie a bag of frozen peas to his face, since Danny refused to hold them against his swollen eye. In the long run it couldn't fix the fact that he was a living reminder of his Mom's infidelity. Or that her infidelity was with someone who wasn't even human. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to keep going and pretend that nothing was different when everything was. The only one who didn't treat him differently was his brother, who seemed to see exactly how painful the situation was for Danny, and did everything he could to run interference for Danny. Danny had never been prouder of his younger brother. And if his two little sisters were overly excited about having a "mermaid" for a brother, well they were only ten and seven years old. It could be excused.

"Daniel," his Mother's voice came through the closed door of his bedroom. "Please come down to the kitchen. Your Father and I need to speak with you."

Danny sighed and for a moment he thought about ignoring the request, but his Mother was trying. Even through it put an unbearable strain on her marriage she continued to protect him from the brunt of his Father's anger. Pushing himself up Danny nodded at his brother who was sitting on the other bed working on his homework. Mattie nodded and set the book aside and followed Danny out of the room. He would go distract the girls while Danny spoke with their parents.

The stairs going down to the first floor of their small home creaked beneath his weight, announcing his presence before he even made it to the bottom. He knew they could hear him shuffling his feet on the old wooden floors and in all honesty he didn't care. It had been nearly a month now and his Father still wouldn't speak to him or even look at him. Danny had quickly decided that if begging his Father to talk to him or glaring angrily at his Father wasn't going to get him anywhere then he would just follow his Father's example and ignore the other man.

When he entered the kitchen he could quickly see his Father sitting at the table, his Mother hovering nervously at his side. Not willing to look at his Father only to be ignored again, Danny looked at his Mother instead. She had a sad, almost resigned look on her face and it was obvious that she was having a hard time looking at him.

"Sit down, Danny," ordered his Father.

Danny bristled at the order but pulled out a chair and sat down anyway. Fighting the order would only make this whole conversation worse, of that he was sure. This past month had been the worst of his life and Danny was ready for it to be over. He didn't know what his parents planned to do about this shame that no one spoke of that was Danny's tail. He was sure he wasn't going to like whatever decision they had come to though.

"Danny, honey," his Mother started.

"Your Mother and I," interrupted his Father. "Have decided to send you to stay with your Uncle Laurence for a little while."

Danny jerked up in his seat, spinning to look at his Father. Sure he liked his Uncle Laurence but he didn't want to move in with the man. He hadn't seen his uncle in two years since he was transferred from the NYPD to the HPD. Sure his uncle talked about all the nice benefits of living in Honolulu, or at least in the outlying areas where rent was better, but Danny was a Jersey boy. He had lived his whole life in New Jersey and the farthest away from home he had ever been was to the JFK airport when they had driven Uncle Laurence there for his flight to Hawaii.

"You're sending me away?" Danny jumped to his feet, planting his hands down on the table top and leaning towards his Father and glared. "Just can't stand having me around any longer, can you. Don't want anyone or anything around to remind you that your perfect little family isn't so perfect. That you have a freak for a son-"

Danny staggered back, a shocked look on his face, one hand raised to his stinging cheek. His Mother was looking at him, her lips trembling and tears at the corners of her eyes. Her hand was still raised up. She had hit him. His own Mother!

Danny collapsed in his seat nearly sliding off it he was so shocked. His Father seemed almost as shocked as Danny. His eyes wider than Danny had ever seen them. "You hit me…"

"I won't have talk like that in my house! I love you both but… I. Will. Not. Have. It." His Mother took a deep shaky breath. "Danny you'll need to pack tonight. Your flight out will be leaving in the morning."

Blinking Danny nodded and turned to leave. He hadn't expected the conversation to go well but he had never thought he would be forced from his family home and struck in the face by his Mother. It was simply out of the realm of possibilities that he had ever considered. Sure he had thought they may ask him to move a block away to stay with his Grandmother while they tried to patch things up, but this? They were sending him all the way across the country? Fists clenched at his side he stumbled up the creaking stairs to where his siblings were hiding in the girl's room. He would have to say goodbye to them and get Mattie to promise to watch out for them while he was away.

Mattie was already in the open doorway waiting for him when he reached the landing. "What'd they want?"

"They're sending me to stay with Uncle Laurence."

"What!"

"Shhh!" Danny pushed Mattie back into the girls room. "I don't want any further arguments okay. Jeeesus, Mattie." Danny pushed his hands through his hair and took a deep breath before looking over to where his two sisters were sitting on the floor playing with their Barbies. "They're sending me away in the morning. So I'll have to pack in a while."

Mattie swallowed hard and looked over at their sisters and then back at Danny. "How long will you be gone?"

"They didn't say but I get the feeling it'll be for a good long while." Danny squeezed his brother's shoulder. "It'll be alright, okay. It's Hawaii. How bad could it really be?"

- - - H50 - - -H50 - - -

**Oahu, Hawaii**

Hawaii was worse than Danny thought. It was too freaking hot out, the people at the airport kept trying to shove a necklace of flowers over his head, the locals kept giving him weird looks and their was sand. Everywhere. Who needed that much sand?

His Uncle Laurence looked much the same as he had the last time Danny saw him, although the man was tanner and he wasn't wearing a tie. Which was odd because Uncle Laurence had been wearing a tie for as long as Danny could remember. In fact Uncle Laurence had explained to Danny that if you wanted to be taken seriously as a detective you had to wear a tie. A tie showed that you were a professional and that you would take the case you were working on seriously. So Danny couldn't figure out why his uncle was no longer wearing one. Was today his day off? But no, Danny distinctly remembered his uncle wearing ties around the family home even when he wasn't working.

"Hey there, Danny." His uncle smiled and pulled him into a quick hug. "Was your flight alright?"

Danny shrugged unsure what to say. It was his first flight but the novelty of it only lasted for a short time before it wore off. After that it was just being confined into a cramped seat on a cramped little plane, on a flight that lasted most of the day. Not very pleasant over all.

"Well, let's get outta here. We can head back to my home and get you settled and we can order out tonight."

"Fine," Danny didn't really feel like talking. He had no idea what his parents had told his uncle.

"I think you'll come to like it here, Danny. There is a lot of good food, some great outdoor activities and the Kukui Highs sports teams are some of the best on the island." His Uncle Laurence glanced over at Danny as they pulled away from the airport. "Your Mom said you were on your schools baseball team?"

"Yeah." Danny looked out the window at the passing scenery. He wasn't mad at his uncle for what his parents had decided to do, but all the same he was still mad. He didn't want to shoot the breeze with his uncle like he wasn't being sent to this island as a form of punishment for being born. He just wanted to get to the room that was going to be his prison for an undetermined length of time and crawl in bed. He wanted to sink into the mattress and vanish.

"-It'll be an adjustment for you, sure, but Danny I really think you'll like it here." His uncle smiled out at the road ahead of him as they drove past small homes, the cliché palm trees and the sandy beach, further inland. "Once you're settled we'll have to have a BBQ so you can meet some of the people here before you start school on Monday. One of my old partners has a son about your age, so maybe he can show you around the places the younger crowd hangs out."

Danny pretends not to listen, knowing that his uncle is aware that Danny is aware of what he is saying. They have played this game before, although the last time it was because Danny was angry at his uncle for leaving him and coming out here, far away from Danny and the rest of the family. Now…now, his uncle seemed happy to have Danny here, and other circumstances Danny would be happy to be here as well. Things were different though and Danny wasn't here because he wanted to be. He was forced here away from his family as a blatant way of saying they no longer wanted him. Well, that was fine. If they didn't want Danny then he didn't want them.

"-they've got a few good pizza places here. We can pick one up if you want? Most of the pizza has pineapple on it though. God only knows why, but it's not bad. Not as a good as back home, of course, but not bad. They've got some crazy ideas about good food. Soup with Spam in it, yeah that wasn't so good. And their hotdogs are okay. My old partner, Jack, was really fond of Puka Dogs, which are pretty popular on the island. Doubt a good ol' Jersey boy like yourself will care for 'em though. They sure aren't a Nathan's or one of old man Nester's from the corner stall down the street, but you get used to 'em."

Danny sighs and forces himself not to look over at his uncle. If he does, as angry as he is he knows he'll say something that he'll regret later. So he pushes down the Williams instinct to rant, yell and wave his arms like a mad man and focuses on the scenery outside. There is a car behind them, an old VW bus with a paintjob that went out of style with the sixties and several surfboards strapped to the top. There were several teens in the bus, more probably than he could see crowding in the front. The boy driving had dark hair, maybe black or brown, they were too far behind them to tell for sure. He had a strong jaw and a wide ready smile. He probably made all the girls swoon. He was good looking. Handsome even. As fit as he looked from here he was probably a jock of some kind or if not he was still probably one of the popular crowd. Anyone that good looking usually made it to the top of the High School social ladder without having to try.

Danny had never been popular, even if his father was a neighborhood hero. Danny was too short, too stocky and too opinionated to be considered handsome back home, let alone be popular. All his friends had been tall and dark haired and Danny just looked wrong when he stood next to them. He had his Irish Mother's coloring instead of his Italian American Father's…Well, as Danny knew now, Frank Williams wasn't really his father. Still Mirabelle had always liked him. Told him he was handsome, so he had never understood why he couldn't be popular. He had figured that it had to do with how different he looked from the other kids that lived around his little corner of Jersey. He had been hoping to change his social position this year. Hoping that by making the baseball team it would push him up the social ladder even if he didn't look like the majority of the kids and then maybe he could find a girl who would be willing to be more than just a friend.

None of that mattered now. It had been pushed home just how much he would never fit in, no matter how hard he tried. And now he was being sent to here, to a place that looked like paradise but was going to be his own personal hell. He would never fit in here. He would be even more obviously out of place than he was back in Jersey.

Eventually they turned off the main road that kept passing by little coves with white sandy beaches and happy people laying in the sun and playing in the water. The VW bus with the smiling teenaged boy stayed on the road heading further along the cost and Danny felt strangely bereft. He didn't know why he should feel that way, but he did all the same. Looking through the side mirror at the happy teens he could almost dream of being in that bus with them, laughing and smiling and being a part of something he never had before.

"We're here, Danny."

Danny blinked and looked at the small house in front of them. It was mostly white with bright blue shutters at the windows and a large wrap-around porch that his Mother would be so jealous of. There were large leafed plants and trees all around the house and a little stone walkway leading up to the porch that was lined with brightly colored flowers. Danny thought it was lovely and couldn't help but wonder if his uncle had gone island crazy because this didn't look anything like a house in Jersey. Not even down at the Shore.

"I hope you'll be able to consider this little place Home. At least for now," his uncle said with a smile as he gently guided Danny inside.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Laurence William's House, Oahu**

When Danny woke up he was surprised by how rested he felt. He hadn't slept quite that deeply since before that fateful night on the beach. Some part of him had always been waiting, listening even as he slept, for someone to approach him and find out his secret. For several minutes he just laid there staring up at the ceiling as he listened to the sounds of birds flying around the house and his Uncle moving about downstairs. There was something peaceful about it but Danny wasn't ready to let his guard down. If he let his guard down he was only going to be hurt again.

Letting out a loud groan Danny arched his back, stretching his arms out above his head. He felt like he could just lay here all day. Did he really have a reason to get up? It didn't feel like it. He felt lost and alone. Abandoned and betrayed by the people he loved most in the world. If they couldn't love him despite his fishy features, why would anyone else?

Danny sighed and rolled onto his side. The sun was barley up but he could already see it peaking through the trees outside his window. Some insane, brightly colored bird was sitting on one of the branches but at the sudden movement Danny made the bird let out a loud trill and flew off. Danny scowled at where it had been and grabbed his pillow and put it over his head. Smothering himself would do no good in the long run. No matter how unhappy he was he had to think about Mattie and the girls. They needed him even if his parents didn't.

Swallowing back the need to scream Danny tossed the pillow at the wall and got up. The bed gave a creak at the sudden shift of weight, but Danny ignored it in favor of another back popping stretch. Feeling a bit more limber he reached down to absent-mindedly scratch at his junk through his boxer-briefs as he headed out of the room. He doubted his Uncle would care if he spent the day in his underwear and even if he did care, Danny didn't. It's not like he had anyone here he needed to impress. This was meant to be his own private prison until his parents decided they wanted to truly cut all ties to him and pretended he had never been born.

"Well, welcome to the morning, Danny-boy," his Uncle Laurence chirped from the kitchen table. "I wasn't expecting you up this early."

Danny grumbled something unintelligible and stumbled over to the coffee pot he could see on the counter. Inhaling he thanked whatever deity created coffee and went to pour himself a cup of the dark brew before it lost that nice white steam rising from it.

"You know that'll only stunt your growth," came the dry comment from his Uncle.

Danny flipped his Uncle off and went back to savoring the rich aroma of the coffee. He could hear his Uncle chuckle from the table but Danny didn't really care. God, the taste was heavenly. So much better than the sludge his Da…Mr. Williams, back in New Jersey, called coffee. Taking another mouthful Danny moaned, not caring in the least that the sounds he was making would put a porn star to shame.

"Should I come back at a better time," came a deep voice from the hallway. "I don't want to be walking in on something I shouldn't see, Laurence."

"Shut up, Jack," Laurence called out. "It's just my nephew taking in the heaven that is a good Kona brew."

Danny turned and cracked an eye open, watching the man walk into the kitchen. He was old, maybe a few years older than Uncle Laurence. He had a sparkle of humor in his eyes but Danny could tell he was a cop. He carried himself the same way Uncle Laurence did, as if he had to be prepared at any minute to run off to track down some criminal, as if there was a man with a gun hiding around every corner. He was dangerous, this man Jack, but his Uncle didn't seem worried at all. So he was likely his Uncle's current partner or the old partner he had mentioned yesterday. Either way Danny didn't care as long as the man left him and the coffee alone.

"What's up," asked Laurence.

"Not much." Jack pulled out a chair and sat down at the table by Laurence. "My rookie had to bail today, one of his cousin's just had a baby."

"And that meant you needed to stop by here to bug me?"

Jack leaned back in his chair and smirked at Danny's Uncle. "I figured you didn't have anything better to do than amuse me."

Danny watched the vein in his Uncle's forehead spasm as the other man continued to smirk at him. Danny gave it about ten seconds before his Uncle did something in return for the smart ass comment and sure enough he did. Before Jack could catch himself Laurence had kicked his foot out catching the tilted legs of the chair and knocking it out from under the other man, who swore from his spot on the floor.

"Fuck, Laurence!" Jack pushed to lay back against the tiles and tried to look pitiful. Which Danny could tell him wouldn't work on his Uncle. The man had grown up in New Jersey in a family with four older brothers and one little sister. He could dish it out and not feel remorse as only a younger sibling could.

"You were saying something, Jack?"

Danny found himself smiling before he could remember that he wasn't here to be happy, he was here because he was a freak of nature. He wasn't supposed to be happy here. Setting his coffee down Danny walked out of the room, a sour taste filling his mouth.

"Shit," Laurence sighed as he watched the dark look pass over his nephews face. For a moment he had seen a real smile on Danny's face and if his sister-n-law was right, Danny hadn't looked happy for months now, since the run in with his father. Laurence didn't know what the fight had been about, hell, he couldn't imagine what would make his brother so mad with Danny. Frank had been smitten with his son from the time he first caught sight of him in the hospital. Frank was never as happy as he was when he was holding one of his kids and Danny and Frank had always been close. They were so close in personality and it was obvious that Danny had idolized his father since before he could barley toddle around on his own and Frank was always bragging about Danny to anyone who would listen. He didn't know what had happened but he had a feeling Alice hadn't told him everything, hell she had barley told him anything to be honest, when she had asked him if Danny could stay with him this year. Laurence had just been so happy at the idea of having Danny here in Hawaii with him where he could teach Danny to surf and try out weird new foods with him. Instead he found himself trapped with a teenager who was very obviously depressed and hardly willing to socialize.

Jack looked at the hallway where Danny had disappeared and back to Laurence. "What's going on? That's hardly your normal teenage angst if I'm not mistaken."

"Hell if I know, Jack. My sister-in-law, Alice just called and asked me to take him in. Said Danny and his Father had gotten into one hell of a fight and that neither was willing to give ground and talk it out."

"Hmmm." Jack stood up, brushing himself off and righting the seat before sitting down. "Whatever it was that happened it must have been big. That kid looks like he's pissed off at the world."

"Yeah. He's hardly said a word since he got here, which isn't like Danny at all. Normally you have to yell to get him to just stop talking. Now I feel like I couldn't even get him to say more than two words even if I got up in his face."

"Give him time. Kids can hold grudges for a while. Eventually he'll realize that you are here for him and he'll start talking."

Laurence shook his head. Jack had a son and he probably knew teens better than Laurence but Laurence was a Williams and knew how stubborn and pigheaded a Williams man could be. "If I try to wait it out I'll likely die of old age before he talks to me."

"Then maybe he just needs to confide in someone closer to his own age."

"Steve?"

"Maybe," Jack nodded.

"Don't shove them at each other, Jack. I don't need him more pissed off than he already is."

"Would I do that," Jack scoffed. "You don't give me enough credit, Law."

"Oh my God! How many times have I told you not to call me that? How many, Jack? Are you five! That is my nephew's name for me. You do not get to call me Law. No one gets to call me that but Danny."

Jack tried not to laugh which only caused the laughter to degrade into snorting guffaws.

- - - H50 - - - H50 - - -

**Diamond Head Beach, Oahu**

Two days into his stay in Hawaii and Danny wasn't sure what to make of his uncle anymore. The man seemed the same as always except he was also different. More laid back and casual than Danny had ever seen him. Especially when his former partner, Jack McGarrett was around. If Danny didn't know his uncle better he would almost think the older Williams' was in love with Detective McGarrett. But that certainly couldn't be. Uncle Laurence was a regular ladies man. Back in Jersey he had a new girlfriend almost every month. There was no way he was a queer. Right? Besides he thought his uncle had said Detective McGarrett had a wife and kids.

Danny was trying hard not to think of things like that because it made him all too aware that he wasn't exactly normal either. That his status as a mythological creature was probably worse than being gay in his families eyes. Besides he doubted he would ever be able to have a long term relationship with anyone. He couldn't see himself ever trusting anyone else enough to tell them his dirty secret. He doubted anyone he told would want to stay with him after he told them. Most people would probably consider sex with a merman a type of bestiality and thus a sin against God and nature.

Man, his life was some kind of cosmic joke.

"Hey, Danny," Jack McGarrett said as he walked up to where Danny was sitting in the shade. "Why don't you go out for a swim? The weather and the water are great today."

"I don't swim." Danny looked away from the older man and back to the book he had smuggled to the beach with him.

Jack blinked. "Well…I suppose if you'd like we could teach you?"

Danny sighed and looked away from his book again. "I know how to swim. I just prefer not to."

"I know swimming in the ocean can be intimidating if you're used to swimming in pools-"

Danny snapped his book shut and glared at the other man. "You are aware that Jersey is on the coast, right? Which means we have an ocean right there." Danny shook his head and stood up, brushing sand off the back of his shorts before he stalked off to another shaded spot further away.

"Well…" Jack pushed his hand back through his hair. "That went well."

Behind him Laurence was snickering. "Surely by now you've figured out that we Williams men are surly bastards when hurting?"

Jack rolled his eyes and looked back to where Danny had moved to, taking in the hunched figure of the teen as he tried to hide away in the shade. It was obvious that Danny didn't feel like he belonged and Jack knew Laurence had been the same way at first as well. He only hoped that Danny would have it a bit easier adjusting to the different culture of life on the islands. "Yeah, yeah. You two suffer from male PMS. I've noticed."

Laurence made a choked sound in the back of his throat before charging after Jack who laughingly dodged him and dashed off down the beach. Just because he wasn't having any luck breaking through Danny's wall of depression wouldn't mean he would let his friend fall prey to it. He would keep Laurence distracted and hope that Steve would have better luck getting through to Danny.

Danny watched the two chase each other around the beach for a while from over the rim of his book. He was glad that his uncle was happy, really he was. It was just so hard to be happy with them when his whole life seemed destined to be miserable. He had always wanted to be a cop like Uncle Laurence and to have a family and kids like his Dad, but since puberty that dream seemed impossible and with every passing year it got harder to pretend that he wasn't alone. That he wasn't going to die alone. Everything he had ever wanted, a Badge, a house, a family, kids…it was all out of reach now.

"Howzit, brah?"

Danny blinked and tried not to scowl as he was interrupted yet again. Standing in front of him was a teenager about his own age, dripping wet and carrying a surfboard. He had dark hair that almost reached his shoulders in a wave of soft curls. Danny arched his eyebrow and tried to ignore how hot he was suddenly feeling.

The other boy laughed and tossed him a crooked smile before plopping down in the sand next to him. "Your Law's nephew, Danny. Right?" Sticking his hand out towards Danny, the other boy smiled even wider. "I'm Steve. My Dad's the crazy man chasing your uncle around the beach."

Danny looked Steve over, that heat filling the pit of his stomach growing hotter, making him even more uncomfortable. Steve's board shorts hung low on his hips revealing a flat, toned stomach leading down into the sharp jut of his hips and the wisp of dark curls just peaking up from the edge of the shorts. Forcing his eyes to stay above the edge of those wet shorts Danny reached out and quickly took Steve's hand, shaking it firmly and trying to tell himself to ignore how soft the other teens skin was against his own. "You look like him a bit."

"Yeah?" Steve looked back across the beach to where Laurence had finally pinned Jack to the ground and was rubbing his face in the sand. "You don't look much like your uncle."

"No," his voice cold, Danny turned away from Steve and back to his book, trying to ignore the other boy and focus on the words on the page. He didn't need some stranger reminding him that he wasn't a blood relation to his favorite uncle.

"Whoa, brah. I didn't mean anything bad. It's just he's a lot more….uh…loco than you."

Danny glanced back at Steve against his better judgment, taking stock of the sincerity in his eyes. Letting out a breath, Danny allowed himself to relax a little. There was something about this goof that was putting him at ease even when he was trying so hard to stay mad. He could feel the pressure of everything churning around as it surged up and out of his mouth before he could stop himself, "He's not my Uncle."

"What?" Steve looked at him startled.

"My Mom," Danny licked his lips, looking away. He felt suddenly embarrassed. "She cheated on my Dad. So by blood I'm not really a Williams."

"Oh." Steve was looking nervous now.

"Look, you don't have to say anything, okay. I shouldn't have said anything in the first place."

"No," Steve grabbed his arm as if to keep Danny from getting up and leaving. "I'm sorry."

Danny glanced down at Steve's hand and the back up at the almost panicked look on his face. "Okay."

Steve let out a breath and released Danny's arm. "Is that, um, is that why they sent you here?"

"Yeah. My Dad decided he didn't want me in the house reminding him of the family shame."

"That sucks."

"Yeah. It really does."

"Does Law know?"

Danny looked away from the other boys rather intensely open gaze. "Not that I know of."

"Well," Steve blushed and quickly looked away, pushing his hands through his wet hair. "If you need to you can, uh, talk to me about it?"

Danny was surprised by the offer but not sure he was willing to take it. He barley knew Steve and there was always the chance the other boy would tell his Dad what Danny said and then his Dad might tell Law. What if Law found out and sent him away as well? Danny didn't know if he could handle the rejection of his favorite uncle along with his father's rejection. Fortunately for Danny, Steve didn't seem to mind not getting an answer to his offer so the two fell into a comfortable silence until Laurence yelled another loud challenge out. The two of them glanced back down the beach when they heard the loud cry of outrage that quickly followed.

Steve's Dad had gotten up from the sand and was now chasing Laurence into the ocean.

"Are they really supposed to be the adults here," murmured Danny.

Steve looked over at Danny and for a moment they were both silent before they burst out laughing, falling against each other to keep from falling face first into the sand. It felt like a damn inside him had burst open and Danny found he couldn't stop laughing even when the tears begin to fall and it became hard to breath. The hurt was still there, a bleeding, festering wound in his heart, but for this brief moment in time it was buried under the force of nature pressed against his side, shaking and laughing along with him.

Down the beach a ways Jack and Laurence smiled, glad to see that Steve had been able to make Danny laugh.

- - - H50 - - - H50 - - -

**Laurence William's House, Oahu**

The rest of the day at the beach had passed far more smoothly for everyone. Sharing those few words, not even the whole truth, had been enough to lighten the weight pressing Danny deeper into depression. He liked Steve, even if he was a surfer goof. He just wasn't certain why he had felt like he could confess his family shame to Steve after knowing him for less than a day. Steve was dangerous. Danny realized he was going to have to be more careful around Steve. He couldn't let his guard down and risk Steve finding out the _real_ secret.

Steve had spent over an hour trying to convince Danny to go surfing with him and when Danny told him he didn't know how, Steve had decided to take it as a challenge to teach him. Danny had protested vehemently and had eventually had to twist out of Steve's over eager grasp, nearly losing his shorts in the process. When he had finally turned around Steve was staring at him with a gaping mouth and blush all the way to the tips of his ears. Danny had looked away and pulled his shorts higher up his hips and ran back towards the shade, trying to pretend that they hadn't been wrestling on the beach or that the feel of Steve's body pressed against his had felt good.

Pushing the memory of Steve's body against his away, Danny went back to staring up at the sky. He had never seen so many stars before. Back in Hoboken there were so many lights from the buildings that you could barley see any stars, but out here it seemed like the sky was just one endless field of them. So many little lights up there, countless suns and planets. Maybe even some of them had sentient life on them. Aliens could be laying in their alien grass looking up at an alien sky and wondering about his planet and what potential life could be on it. Danny had never really thought much about aliens before. Sure he had watched Star Trek reruns on TV as a kid, and sure he went to see the Star Wars movies with Mattie and his Dad, but he had never really thought that there could really be aliens. But laying out here in Uncle Laurence's yard staring up at all those stars and thinking about how he wasn't very human made the likelihood of aliens so much more possible. It was strangely reassuring, the thought that there may be people out there around one of those suns who was stranger than he was. Someone who might be going through something similar, who maybe questioned if there was something wrong with himself for looking at another boy and feeling a blaze of desire that not even the prettiest of cheerleaders could inspire.

"Danny," called Laurence from the lanai behind him. "It's getting late and you need to get to sleep. School starts tomorrow and we need to get you there early to talk with Principal Kalakaua."

Danny let out a long sigh, watching the stars for another moment before pushing up from the ground. Brushing the grass off his pants he turned back to the house. He still had to shower and go through the rest of his nightly routine before he could try to sleep. Sleep that wasn't likely to be all that comforting after being trapped at the ocean around a mostly naked Steve McGarrett.

School. What a joy to look forward to. School and another day where he would be stuck with Aquaman. It was hard to push away the smile that teased at the corners of his mouth. He didn't want to be happy thinking about another boy. Thinking about Steve. Smiling at, or with, Steve was only going to lead to more problems and Danny had more than enough of those already. As if being a bastard half-blood mermaid -_merman!_- wasn't bad enough to deal with on it's own. He had to deal with being abandoned by the only Father he had ever known. The man he had practically worshipped for as long as he could remember. The man who taught him how to ride a bike, how to throw a pitch that would make a nun weep, how to slide into home plate without getting tagged and how to treat a lady on your first date. All of that pressed down on him, made him feel like the weight of the world was crushing him slowly.

And then what?

He gets sent to Hawaii. To "Paradise," to be a prisoner in his own body, forced to face the ocean and the siren song it sang on the wind all _fucking_ day! If that wasn't making things worse he finds his uncle as warm and loving as ever, reaching out for Danny as if Danny wasn't the big Scarlet Letter stitched to the front of his Mother's life. His Uncle just saw the little boy Danny had been before puberty had ruined his life forever. His uncle Laurence saw the boy who had followed him around all the time and had stolen his handcuffs to cuff Mattie to the banister on Thanksgiving just so Danny could get an extra helping of Grandma Williams' sweet potatoes. He didn't see the walking Sin that little boy had become and that hurt. It hurt so much that he couldn't be that little boy anymore.

And now there was Steve. Steve who looked at Danny and didn't see the living Sin either, but he didn't see the little Danny of before either. Steve who knew the horrible shame Danny carried being a bastard and perhaps the key to his families ruin. Steve who seemed to want to understand, or did at least a little. Steve with the goofy smile and the twinkling eyes. Steve who rose out of the water like some kind of teenage Poseidon and beckoned Danny back to the depths of the blue, blue heaven beneath the waves. Steve who even now burned at the back of Danny's mind, teasing him with the delights that puberty promised that had been snatched away in a sea of self hatred and doubt.

Danny dropped to his knees by the toilet in the little bathroom connected to the room he was staying in. His stomach felt like a twisted mass of brambles and thorns trying to rise up his throat. His eyes burned and behind them a fierce pressure was forming, radiating out to his temples. Between his legs his dick throbbed at the memory of Steve rising up out of the ocean, flicking his curling hair back with a spray of water. He could feel his blood pulsing through the skin of his shaft as it stirred behind his loose pants, the throbbing pulse of it beating in tempo with the throbbing behind his eyes.

Dropping his forehead to rest against the cold porcelain of the toilet lid, Danny pressed the palm of his hand against where his erection pressed against his zipper. When that only made him want to moan, Danny pressed his palm down even harder until his felt his dick go limp and tears fill the corners of his eyes. He didn't know what to do anymore but he couldn't do that. He couldn't touch himself and pretend that one day someone else would touch him like that. That maybe Steve would touch him like that. He couldn't let himself think that because thinking it would only make him hope for it.

Danny felt the tears roll down his cheeks to slide over the porcelain. Who was he supposed to be now? He couldn't be who his Father wanted. He couldn't be who he had dreamed of becoming. He didn't fit in anywhere and he didn't have a home to go back to. What was there for him now?


End file.
